One kind of such pads consisting of a thin sheet of absorbent solid material is described in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,468,030. The pads have a generally triangular shape with rounded corners (pear shape) and a size adapted to fit into the mouth between the teeth and the cheek. To the face of the pad which is turned towards the teeth is secured a thin layer of metal foil. Another kind of such pads is generally egg-shaped and instead of the attached metal foil, one surface of the pad is laminated with a rigid plastic film.
While these pads have proven to be a convenient and preferred substitute for the conventional cotton rolls used by dentists in the past for the absorption of saliva, they still have some disadvantages. With their straight or even convex fore edge they stick out of the corner of the wide open mouth of a patient and are an obstacle for the dentist's mirror. The term, "fore end" in the present description is meant to refer to the end located nearest to the corner of the mouth when the pad is used, and the term, "rear end", is meant to refer to the end located nearest the pharynx.
The pads must be individually removed from a staple comprising a plurality of loose pads piled one upon the other. Only the uppermost pad should at each instance be seized, e.g. by a pair of tweezers, but because of the flat shape of the pads, this is not always possible and even the underlying pad in the staple is often touched, which however is a hygienic disadvantage.